• Columns,  Dave Hughes

    Dave Hughes of Retire Fabulously: How to Make the Best of Retirement in the Pandemic

    The following is reprinted with permission from RetireFabulously.com

    By Dave Hughes


    It’s July 21, 2020, and the COVID-19 pandemic has been raging for at least four months now.

    I hope you are doing well and staying safe and sane, to the greatest extent possible.

    Aside from the immediate impacts of the pandemic, many other aspects of your life have been upended and changed in one way or another. Many businesses are suffering, but some are booming. People are eating out less, working from home, driving less, buying more of some things and less of others, and so on. Almost every aspect of “normal” has been disrupted.

    If you are not retired yet, your work situation has probably changed. You may be working from home or even furloughed. Depending on your line of work, you may be working extra hours.

  • Columns,  Dave Hughes

    Dave Hughes: Your Retirement Has Changed – Perhaps for the Better

    This article is reprinted with permission from RetireFabulously.com

    Dave Hughes, Retire Fabulously


    A couple weeks ago (mid-May, 2020), I was contacted by a writer for MarketWatch who was working on an article about “Retiree Resentment.” He was seeking input from experts on how retirees can reframe their resentment in a positive, proactive way.

    In order to give him the best information I could, I asked Retire Fabulously! subscribers to share their thoughts. I asked, “How has this pandemic changed how you feel about your retirement? Has this led you to adjust your plans or expectations for your retirement? If so, how?”

  • Columns,  Dave Hughes

    Dave Hughes: It’s Time to Rethink What Makes a Good Place to Retire

    This article first appeared at Retire Fabulously, reprinted with permission.

    By Dave Hughes, Retire Fabulously

    There are many factors that compete for your attention when it comes to deciding where you want to retire. You probably consider the climate, recreational amenities, cost of living, safety, and tax rates. Being close to your family and friends may be the most important factor for you.

    Even if you’re pretty sure you want to continue living where you are, please keep reading.

    There’s one consideration that I believe most people either underestimate or don’t think about at all. That is the quality of healthcare in the area where you choose to enjoy your retirement.

  • Columns,  Dave Hughes

    Dave Hughes: Give Your Loved Ones Something to Remember

    By Dave Hughes, Retire Fabulously


    If you are like most of us, you probably don’t think much about how you will be remembered by your loved ones after you’re gone. But trust me – you will be missed and remembered more than you will ever know.

    Think about your loved ones who have already passed. Don’t you miss them? And don’t you wish you had more to remember them by? Wouldn’t it be nice to know a little more about their lives? Wouldn’t you love to hear more of their stories or have a better way of remembering them?

    In the future, people will feel that way about you, too. So why not create something for them to remember you by? After all, nobody knows your life better than you.

    There are many ways you can choose to document your life for others.

  • Columns,  Dave Hughes,  LGBTSR

    Dave Hughes: Stay-At-Home Orders May Provide Preview of Retirement for Some

    By Dave Hughes, Retire Fabulously

    This article was written on April 2, 2020, about three months into the global COVID-19 pandemic. In the United States, most state governors have issued stay-at-home orders. Everyone except essential workers is urged to stay home and only venture forth to procure necessities, maintaining a distance of at least six feet from others. Soon, we will be asked to wear face masks. Some people already are.

    First, I would like to express my most sincere gratitude for those who must go to work, often placing themselves in danger: those in the medical professions, grocery store employees, delivery drivers, etc. You are heroes!

  • LGBTSR

    Featured Book: The Quest for Retirement Utopia: How to Find the Retirement Spot That’s Right for You, by Dave Hughes

    He’s done it again! The fabulous Dave Hughes of Retire Fabulously has recently released his third book on the ups, downs, ins and outs of retirement.

    The Quest for Retirement Utopia: How to Find the Retirement Spot That’s Right for You, “will provide you with the resources you need to properly evaluate the places you are thinking about retiring so that you can make the most informed choice. The Quest for Retirement Utopia is not just a quest for the most beautiful or most economically advantageous place, it’s a quest for the place where you can live an optimal, fulfilling, and wonderful life. The Quest for Retirement Utopia will help you find the retirement spot that’s right for you!”

  • 6 Questions,  Interviews

    6 (More) Questions for Dave Hughes of RetireFabulously.com

    By Mark McNease

    I’ve been a fan of Dave Hughes and his RetireFabulously.com website for the past five years. I’ve been raving about his columns and had the privilege of helping edit his two books . We both recently enjoyed cruises with our husbands, and I thought it was a good time to ask him some more questions about living in retirement, some of the realities of traveling as a retiree, and a general update. (Note: I’ll be turning 60 this month and hope to retire myself at 62.)

    Dave, thanks for taking the time to answer more questions. You’ve been retired a while now and more active than ever. We both just finished cruises, and have fabulous, but different, experiences with this form of vacation. Let’s start there …

    MM: I know people who love cruising and people who would rather walk on burning coals than be on a ship. What would you tell someone who’s never cruised to sell them on doing it?

    DH: Cruises aren’t for everybody. I won’t pretend that they are. But some people harbor misconceptions about what cruises are really like. There are plenty of lesbian and gay people who harbor misconceptions about what lesbian or gay cruises are like.

  • Columns,  Dave Hughes,  Latest

    Dave Hughes: Senior Housing Needs to Increase Its Diversity Competency

    Dave Hughes of RetireFabulous.com

    Senior Housing Needs to Increase Its Diversity Competency
    Changing Workforce Demographics Signal a Change in Retiree Demographics

    By Dave Hughes

    During their working years, the Baby Boomer generation (those born between 1946 and 1964) experienced a dramatic environmental shift in workplace demographics and culture. Throughout the 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s, employers have become more attuned to the need to provide workplaces that are more welcoming of career-oriented women and diverse people of all sorts. Corporate America and academia, in particular, implemented policies and training programs which foster inclusion for employees of various races, nationalities, religions, and physical abilities, as well as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) people who want to be able to live and work more openly.

  • 6 Questions,  Books,  Interviews

    6 Questions for Author and Columnist Dave Hughes

    Dave Hughes
    Dave Hughes

    I met Dave Hughes in the vast meeting place of the internet sometime last year and have been reading his columns at RetireFabulously.com ever since. A new column in the email inbox means more great information from the perspective of someone who’s been there and done that – in this case, designed and lived his retirement, discovering both the expected and the unanticipated along the way.

    retire bookDave’s new book, Design Your Dream Retirement: How to Envision, Plan For, and Enjoy the Best Retirement Possible, just came out. I’ve read it and can’t recommend it highly enough for anyone who is living their renaissance or planning to. There’s so much we don’t know about the realities of retirement, both exciting and challenging, and Dave is an expert at providing that information in easy-to-understand language, with concrete examples that can help you form and design your own dream retirement.

    Following are ‘6 Questions’ Dave found time to answer. Enjoy them, and be sure to check out his book, for yourself or as a gift for a friend or loved one. It’s invaluable.

  • What's Cooking

    What’s Cooking: The Happy Medium’s Gazpacho Recipe

    What’s Cooking is a feature at LGBTSr highlighting readers’ favorite recipes. Have a recipe to share? Email us at: recipes @ lgbtsr.com

    The following recipe was provided by Jeff McKeehan, The Happy Medium and husband to Dave Hughes of Retire Fabulously fame.

    Gazpacho Trivia: This dish, beloved throughout Spain, plays a central role in the hilarious Pedro Almodóvar film, “Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown”, starring a very young Antonio Banderas.

    Equipment Needed:

    Blender with approx. 48 -60 oz capacity.

    Wire strainer, approx. 8” diameter, with medium-to-fine mesh

    Short-handled soup ladle (for pressing contents through strainer)

    Flexible spatula for scraping sides of blender and mixing bowl

    Large, lightweight (plastic or stainless steel, not glass) mixing bowl with approx.  60 oz capacity.

    Container with tight-fitting lid and closeable pour spout, with approx. 50-60 oz. capacity

  • Columns,  Dave Hughes,  LGBTSR,  reitre

    25 Great US Cities and Towns for LGBT Retirees

    By Dave Hughes, RetireFabulously.com

    This article is an excerpt from Dave Hughes’ new book, The Quest for Retirement Utopia: How to Find the Retirement Spot That’s Right for You.

    When it comes to choosing a place to live during retirement, LGBT people want the same things that everyone else wants – safety, reasonable prices, agreeable climate, cultural and recreational amenities, and good healthcare.

    However, LGBT people have a few additional factors to consider. Those include how tolerant an area is, the presence of a gay community, and healthcare providers that are welcoming towards LGBT people. Sadly, instances where LGBT patients are treated poorly and same-sex partners are denied visitation rights or decision-making rights in hospitals and nursing homes are still all too common.